Lazar Kaganovich: Stalin's Mass MurdererAmerican Times Today

Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich (Kogan), of Jewish descent, was born in Kubany,
near Kiev, Ukraine, in 1893. In 1911 he joined the Jewish-founded Communist
Party and became involved with the Bolsheviks (Lower East Side New York Jews).
Kaganovich took an active part in the 1917 takeover of Christian Russia by
Communism and rose rapidly in the Party hierarchy.

From 1925 to 1928, he was first secretary of the party organization in Ukraine
and by 1930 was a full member of the Politburo.

Kaganovich was one of a small group of Stalin's top sadists pushing for very
high rates of collectivization after 1929. He became Stalin's butcher of
Christian Russians during the late 1920s and early 1930s when the Kremlin (jews)
launched its war against the kulaks (small landowners who were Christians) and
implemented a ruthless policy of land collectivization. The resulting
state-organized forced famine, was a planned genocide and killed 7,000,000
Ukrainians between 1932 and 1933, and inflicted enormous suffering on the Soviet
Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan.

Josef Stalin (Dzhugashvili) altered census figures to hide the millions of
famine deaths when the Ukraine and northern Caucasus region had an extremely
poor harvest in 1932, just as Stalin was demanding heavy requisitions of grain
to sell abroad to finance his industrialization program which was on top of
enforced collective farming of 1929. Stalin is conservatively estimated to have
been responsible for the murder and/or starvation of 40,000,000 Russians and
Ukrainians during his reign of terror, while the total deaths resulting from the
de-kulaklization and famine, by way of Kaganovich, can be conservatively
estimated at about 14,500,000.

On any analysis, Kaganovich, was one of the worst mass murderers in history, and
little wonder that during World War II large numbers of Ukrainians greeted the
Germans as liberators, with many joining the Waffen-SS to keep Communism from
enslaving all of Europe.

Ukrainian Canadian
Research and Documentation Centre

Toronto: UCRDC 1997

Introduction

The Ukrainian Canadian Research & Documentation Centre (UCRDC) is a
source of information about Ukrainian Canadians, one of the most vibrant
communities within the Canadian mosaic.

UCRDC concentrates on the collection of data and facts about recent and
historical events that focus on the present and the heritage of Ukrainian
Canadians. It disseminates its findings about these events by producing
documentary films, organizing exhibits, conferences, and lectures and sponsoring
publications.

UCRDC is celebrating its 15th anniversary in 1997 by intiating a major
capital campaign to establish an Endowment Fund. The annual interest income
generated by the fund will ensure the operation of the Centre in perpetuity. We,
the members of the UCRDC Board, hope that there will be many individuals and
corporations that will respond generously to our call.

An early achievement of the UCRDC was the award-winning documentary film Harvest
of Despair. We have also created a major traveling exhibit titled The
Barbed Wire Solution: Ukrainians and Canada's First Internment Operations
1914-1920 which is now traveling throughout Ontario. A documentary film
about Ukrainian Canadians and Ukraine in World War II is now in the process of
completion.

The Centre's archives are available to any researcher interested in studying
Ukrainian and Ukrainian Canadian topics.

The UCRDC is indebted to dedicated volunteers who have made the Centre’s
activities possible. To date many supporters have sustained the operation of the
UCRDC. We call upon you to ensure the Centre's continued success through your
patronage and help in creating for the Centre a permanent Endowment Fund. The
Ukrainian Canadian Research & Documentation Centre will acknowledge your
assistance in a special way.

Wasyl Janischewskyj,Chairman of the Board

Contents

Letter of Introduction

1.

Contents

2.

Ukraine in World War II Film Project

3.

Harvest of Despair Film

4.

Archives

5.

Projects in Ukraine

6.

Exhibits
Barbed Wire Solution
Ukrainian Canadian Centennial
Chornobyl

7.

Famine Conference - University of Toronto

8.

Publications

9.

Chronology

10.

UCRDC Goals & Objectives

11.

Letters Patent of Canada

12.

Board of Directors 1996-97

13.

Endowment Fund

Ukraine in World War IIDocumentary Film Project

In 1986 the UCRDC initiated a major project to create a documentary film
about Ukraine in World War II. With the independence of Ukraine in 1991 it
became possible to include new research and information that has become
available in recent years. The Centre chose Slavko Nowytski, the award-winning
director of the film Harvest of Despair, to serve as
producer-director of this film. He has directed and produced such films as Sheep
in Wood, Pysanka, and a film about Ukrainian Canadians: Reflections
of the Past. In 1996 a contract was completed and the plan for the
film’s production and release early in 1998 was established.

The film, Ukraine in World War II, will portray the titanic
struggle which took place on the territory of Ukraine between Nazi Germany and
Soviet Russia. The destructive scorched earth policy of both totalitarian
powers, the Ukrainian guerilla armies and the people fighting both the Nazi and
the Soviet Armies for Ukrainian independence, the 2.3 million Ukrainian slave
labourers (Ostarbeiters) taken to Germany, the terror and executions of innocent
people and finally the loss of an estimated 8 to 10 million Ukrainians -- will
all be part of this tragic story of Ukraine in World War II.

The UCRDC Archives, with over 800 video and audio interviews, is providing
eyewitness documentary material for the film. Experts have been already
interviewed, including Norman Davies of the University of London and author of Europe:
A History, John Armstrong, author of Ukrainian Nationalism,
Robert Conquest of Stanford University, author of The Harvest of Sorrow
and The Great Terror, Zbigniew Brzezinski, former Foreign Policy
Advisor to the U.S. President. Material on the tragedy of the Jews including the
testimony of Ukrainians who saved Jews from the Nazi terror will be part of the
film. Photos and documents have been obtained from the Museum of World War II in
Kyiv. Rare film footage and significant photos relating to the war have been
collected for the film.

It is planned to have the film available in both English and Ukrainian and it
will be translated into other languages such as, French, Spanish and Russian. It
is expected that -- just as the previous UCRDC film Harvest of Despair
-- the documentary film Ukraine in World War II will reach an
audience of millions of people around the world. Sponsors and major donors to
the film will be included in its credits.

Harvest of Despair

The greatest achievement of the Centre is the production of the award-winning
documentary film Harvest of Despair which had its premiere at the
University of Toronto on Sunday, October 21, 1984 at 7:00 PM. For the first time
in history this film brought the 1932-33 terror famine in Ukraine into the
awareness of the world. Perpetrated by Stalin’s Soviet government which sought
to destroy Ukrainians as a nation, the famine is one of the most terrible crimes
of the 20th century. It claimed seven million lives in Ukraine.

Harvest of Despair: The 1932-33 Man-Made Famine in Ukraine won
several first prizes at international film festivals. The Director of the film
was Slavko Nowytski, Associate Director was Yurij Luhovy. Translations were made
into Ukrainian, French, and Spanish.

Harvest of Despair was shown in Canada on the CBC network, in
the USA on PBS, in England on the BBC as well as in Australia, Argentina and
Sweden and on other TV networks. Before the 1991 independence referendum in
Ukraine Harvest of Despair was telecast on the Ukrainian national
television network. The film was the essential catalyst in finally breaking down
the USSR denial that a man-made famine had occurred in Ukraine in 1932-33.

This documentary film established the existence and the extent of this
genocidal crime against humanity which had been so skillfully concealed by the
Soviet Union that half a century later the western world remained a victim of
Soviet propaganda.

A one hour documentary, Harvest of Despair, has been widely
screened around the world, and is regularly shown in schools, colleges and
universities. It has provided an insight into the Soviet totalitarian system and
a better understanding of the reasons for the struggle of Ukraine for
independence. The video Harvest of Despair is available in
English, Ukrainian, French and Spanish from the UCRDC office.

Archives

The UCRDC Archives were established in 1988 to organize the large collection
of materials collected on the 1932-33 famine. In 1991 a special climate
controlled room was provided at the Centre to safeguard the archival materials.

The Archive acquires, preserves and makes accessible to researchers and
students primary documentary evidence available pertaining to:

Oral history is a significant part of the archival collection, which includes
over 800 audio and video interviews in English and Ukrainian. Recently 35
unpublished memoirs have been added to the archive.

In 1989-90 The UCRDC and the Ukrainian Resource and Development Centre at
Grant MacEwan Community College in Edmonton jointly funded a project. It
involved the production of 30 one-hour video interviews with Ukrainian Canadian
men and women who were members of the Canadian armed forces about their
experiences during and after World War II.

Projects in Ukraine

The UCRDC has established a working relationship in the field of oral history
with the Institute of Historical Studies at Lviv University. Since 1992 UCRDC
Archivist Iroida Wynnyckyj has spent several weeks annually working on oral
history in Lviv with support from the Canada-Ukraine Partners Program.

Oral history is particularly suited to fill the gaps in the documentation of
life under Soviet rule. It is essential for the creation of archival materials
in the realm of previously illegal and censored information and to fill the
blank spots in the historical heritage of Ukrainian Canadians.

As a result of activities under this project the Institute of Historical
Studies in Lviv has:

1. A collection of over 400 testimonies from people who were
eyewitnesses of World War II and other events which were systematically
distorted by the Soviet government. Until now this information existed only in
the memories of individuals. Copies of all these interview tapes are now held
at the UCRDC.

2. A team of interviewers trained in the collecting, documenting and
storing of oral history recordings.

3. An oral history manual in the Ukrainian language.

Exhibits

Barbed Wire Solution

The Barbed Wire Solution: Ukrainians and Canada’s First Internment
Operations 1914-1920 is the largest exhibit ever sponsored by the UCRDC.
It is a major traveling exhibit which portrays the experience of over 5,000
Ukrainian Canadian men, women and children who were unjustly interned during and
after World War I in 25 concentration camps across Canada. After the premiere in
Metro Hall in Toronto the exhibit has been displayed in such locations as the
City Hall Art Gallery of Ottawa, Fort Henry in Kingston (which was an internment
centre), the Niagara Falls Library (sponsored by Lundy’s Lane Historical
Museum) as well as in the cities of Parry Sound, North Bay, and Brantford.
Exhibit design: Bojak. UCRDC Exhibits Coordinator: Switlana Medwidsky.

"It is truly unfortunate that so few Canadians today, are aware of these
sad and unfortunate events in our history. Your exhibition will serve to
remind Canadians that we have not been above human rights violations and
injustices...."

Hon. A. Raynell Andreychuk, Senate of Canada

Ukrainian Canadian Centennial

To mark the 1991 centennial of Ukrainian immigration to Canada the UCRDC
mounted a special exhibit in 1991-92 on its premises portraying the history of
Ukrainian Canadians. Over 1,000 students from many schools in the Metro Toronto
area visited the exhibit. Exhibits coordinator: Switlana Medwidsky

Chornobyl

The 10th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear tragedy of April 26, 1986 was
marked in Ukraine and by Ukrainian communities around the world. The major
exhibit in Canada was displayed in the prestigious location of the Main Lobby of
the University of Toronto Robarts Library from April 15 to 30, 1996. Sponsored
by the UCRDC and organized by Executive Director Andrew Gregorovich it combined
books, photos, maps, newspapers and quotations into an exhibit which was
informative to thousands of university students, professors and the general
public.

Famine Conference

A major international scholarly conference on the famine, New Research
Findings: Famine in Ukraine 1932-33, sponsored by the UCRDC, was held at
the University of Toronto, September 28-30, 1990. The conference was opened by
Wasyl Janischewskyj (University of Toronto), President of UCRDC.

The papers presented were: "The Politics of Researching the
Famine," James Mace (Director, U.S. Congress Commission on the Ukrainian
Famine), "The Famine in the British Archival Documents," Jaroslav V.
Koshiw (University of Glasgow), "The Famine in Consular Dispatches from
Kiev: The German Reports," Orest Subtelny (York University), "The
Famine in the Italian Archival Documents," Andrea Graziosi (University of
Naples), "Famine, International Law and Human Rights: Analysis of the
Report of the International Commission of Inquiry into the 1932-33 Famine in
Ukraine," John P. Humphrey (McGill University), "The 1921-23 Famine in
the Light of New Research," Roman Serbyn (University of Quebec), "The
Famine Witnesses: Analysis of Testimonies from Ukraine," Lidia Kovalenko
(Kiev), "The Famine Witnesses: Oral Histories in North America" Iroida
Wynnyckyj (Director, UCRDC Archives) and Wsevolod W. Isajiw (University of
Toronto) and "Famine in Kazakhstan, Caucasus and Volga Regions,"
Volodymyr Maniak (Memorial Society, Ukraine).

Bohdan Krawchenko (University of Alberta) with J. Mace and A. Graziosi
participated in the panel discussion "The Famine as a Planned Political
Act." Sally J. Taylor author of the book Stalin's Apologist
[Walter Duranty] (Oxford U.P., 1990) spoke on "A Blanket of Silence: The
Response of the Western Press Corps in Moscow to the Ukraine Famine of
1932-33." Vyacheslav Chornovil was the guest speaker at the dinner at Metro
Toronto Convention Centre. Conference organizers: W.W. Isajiw, Nadia Malanchuk.
It is planned to publish the proceedings of the Conference as a book.

Serbyn, Roman. The Famine of 1921-1923 and the Ukrainian Press in
Canada. Toronto: Ukrainian Canadian Research & Documentation Centre,
1995. 700 p. illus., maps. Text Ukrainian; summaries in English and French.

Szuch, Allan (Lubomyr). Catalogue to the Textual and Audio-Visual
Materials of the Ukrainian Canadian Research & Documentation Centre.
Toronto: UCRDC, April 1989. v, 337 p.

In Preparation

Chronology of UCRDC Events

Ukrainian Famine Research Committee is formed in Toronto on April 14, 1982.

Letters Patent of Canada issued on August 14, 1986 establishes the Centre
as a charitable organization. Supplementary Letters Patent of October 2,
1989 established the new name: Ukrainian Canadian Research &
Documentation Centre.

Harvest of Despair, a documentary film produced by UCRDC
about the 1933 terror famine in Ukraine, is premiered on October 21, 1984 at
the University of Toronto and wins many awards.

Video Oral History Project, with thirty interviews with Ukrainian
Canadians, is sponsored by UCRDC with a $20,000 grant to the Ukrainian
Resource and Development Centre at Grant MacEwan Community College in
Edmonton, March 1989.

Lecture on "The Status of Archival Research in Ukraine," by
Serhiy Bilokin of Kyiv, May 17, 1990 is sponsored by UCRDC and St. Vladimir
Institute.

Famine 33, a docu-drama directed by Oles Yanchuk and made by
the Dovzhenko Film Studio in Kyiv, is shown at the Humber Odeon Theatre,
February 20, 22, 1992 with over 2,000 people in attendance.

Archival Materials in Ukraine, a lecture by Iroida Wynnyckyj, February 2,
1993, described the 1976 discovery of 32 Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)
documents in a kryivka hideout in Khorotsev, Ukraine. They were
acquired by UCRDC.

Ukraine: Two Years of Independence Symposium Programme held at York
University October 8-9, 1993, was sponsored by the York University Ukrainian
Studies Committee. UCRDC sponsored a Public Meeting with speakers including
Hon. Ihor Yukhnovsky (former Deputy Premier of Ukraine), Hon. Victor
Pinzenyk (former Economics Minister), and Hon. Ivan Dziuba (Minister of
Culture of Ukraine).

Premiere at the St Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto on May 27, 1994
for Freedom Had a Price, a documentary film about Canada’s
first internment operation in 1914-20, by award-winning director Yurij
Luhovy, which was supported by a $50,000 grant from UCRDC. It was shown
later on the CBC.

"Ukrainian Historical Studies at Lviv University," lecture by
Dr. Yaroslav Hrytsak, Director of the Institute of Historical Research at
Lviv University. Sponsored by the UCRDC, the Peter Jacyk Centre for Research
in Ukrainian History, November 11, 1994.

"Documentation of the Oral History of Ukraine," a lecture by
Victor Susak of Lviv University and Iroida Wynnyckyj (UCRDC), February 22,
1995. A joint project in collecting historical documentation.

"The Scholarly Legacy of Prof. Ivan Lysiak-Rudnytsky and Contemporary
Ukrainian Historiography," by Academician Yaroslav Isaievich, President
of the International Association of Ukrainianists, (MAU), December 7, 1995.

A New Day Will Come a film by Roman Shirman about
Ukrainian-Jewish relations, which includes rare clips of Vladimir Jabotinsky
and Simon Petlura, is screened at UCRDC in December 1995.
Book launch of Studii z istorii Ukrainy (Studies in the
History of Ukraine), by Oleksandr Ohloblyn. Lecture by Prof. Lubomyr Wynar,
President of the Ukrainian Historical Association, sponsored by UCRDC,
Ukrainian Historical Association, and the Ukrainian Canadian Women’s
Committee, and held at the Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation, March 2, 1996.

UCRDC provided information for the A&E Television Network Biography of
Stalin which was broadcast on March 7, 1996 with credit to UCRDC.

10th Anniversary Chornobyl Exhibit in the Main Lobby of the University of
Toronto Robarts Library organized by Andrew Gregorovich, Executive Director
UCRDC, April 15-30, 1996.

Book program for Silver Threads by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch.
Sponsored by UCRDC, Cultural Committee of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress
(Ontario) and Ukrainian Canadian Women’s Committee (Toronto). Held at the
Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation, December 19, 1996.

Book launch for The Famine of 1921-1923 and the Ukrainian Press in
Canada, by Prof. Roman Serbyn, University of Quebec, February 7,
1997.

"The Oral History of Ukrainian Independence: Interviews with 100 Key
Individuals," lecture by Sara Sievers of Harvard University, at UCRDC,
March 9, 1997.

New books program: Rosiysky Tsentralizm (Russian Centralism
and Ukrainian Autonomy), by Zenon Kohut, Director of CIUS and Ukraine
Betweeen East and West, by Ihor Sevcenko, Harvard University.
Speakers: Dr. Zenon Kohut, Dr. Frank Sysyn, Dr. Yaroslav Hrytsak. Sponsored
by UCRDC and the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, Peter Jacyk Centre
for Research in the History of Ukraine, Sunday, April 6, 1997.

Genocide Remembered: Armenians 1915-23 - Ukrainians 1932-33. Dr. Lorne
Shirinian on "Voices of the Survivors of Genocide" & Dr. Frank
Sysyn "Making the Famine a Public Issue: The Role of the Ukrainian
Diaspora in the 1980s," April 13, 1997.

UCRDC Goals

The Ukrainian Canadian Research & Documentation Centre collects,
catalogues and preserves materials documenting the heritage, culture and
history of Ukrainians in Canada and around the world.

The UCRDC archives support the research of scholars, students and anyone
interested in Ukrainian subjects. Through its production and collection of
video and oral interviews and testimony, the UCRDC is creating a unique Oral
History Collection, a body of archival documentation which will help to
preserve the heritage of Ukrainian Canadians. This is a task which no other
organization in the Ukrainian Canadian community has undertaken at present.
The Centre provides all researchers, not only Ukrainian Canadians, with
significant resources.

In addition to its role of providing materials for researchers, the
Centre also serves as a resource and information centre on subjects related
to Ukraine, the Ukrainian heritage and Ukrainian Canadians. In this capacity
it assists the public, newspaper and radio journalists, television networks,
writers, politicians, and government officials, as well as the general
public.

February 24, 1997

AG18.VII.96, 30.IX.96

Objectives

The objects of the Ukrainian Canadian Research & Documentation Centre
are:

a) to promote interest in and the study and research of the history
of Ukrainian Canadians and their heritage and . . . to study and research
the Ukrainian famine and related historical events;

b) to collect, organize and assemble research information,
documents, books, articles, films, audio and video tapes and other
materials [photographs and illustrations] dealing with the history of
Ukrainian Canadians and their heritage;

c) to establish and maintain a library or collection of research
information, documents, books, articles, films, [CD ROMs], audio and video
tapes and other materials dealing with the history of Ukrainian Canadians
and their heritage;

d) to promote, assist and carry on publication and creation of
books, articles, research papers, films, and audio and video tapes dealing
with the history of Ukrainian Canadians and their heritage;

e) to create, provide and enlarge a fund to be used for the
furtherance of the objects of the Corporation and . . . to provide
financial assistance to those engaged in the study and research of the
history of Ukrainian Canadians and their heritage;

Administration of the Centre

Endowment

The Ukrainian Canadian Research & Documentation Centre in its
fifteenth year is initiating a campaign to establish an Endowment Fund in
order to ensure its important work into the distant future and in
perpetuity.

What can you do to assist the work of the Centre?

There are several ways for you to consider contributing to the survival
and important work of the UCRDC:

A generous donation to the Endowment Fund will forever contribute its
interest to the UCRDC activities.

In your will you can make provision for your estate to contribute to the
UCRDC. Your lawyer can best advise you on the formulation of this matter so
that the Government of Canada does not become the major benificiary of your
hard-earned estate. The UCRDC would be pleased to recommend and pay for a
lawyer to prepare your will if you plan to include the Centre in the
testament.

You can designate your life insurance towards the Endowment Fund or the
general fund of the UCRDC.

MOSCOW (Sep 25, 1995 - 23:06 EDT) -- A mountain of concrete is rising, day and
night, on the banks of the Moscow River.

A work force of more than 2,500 people labors in shifts around the clock,
seven days a week (including the Sabbath), to rebuild the vast 19th-century
Cathedral of Christ the Savior, destroyed by Stalin in 1931 and then turned into
a weird outdoor swimming pool.

It is an act of religious monumentalism that rings oddly to many here at the
end of the 20th century. No one is really sure whether this gigantic structure,
almost as large as St. Paul's in London and already towering 130 feet above the
ground, is a monument to God or to Mammon.

The Russian Orthodox Church has blessed the re-creation, but the cathedral
has become as much a symbol of new state power as the huge memorial to the dead
of World War II, Poklonnaya Hill, with its mixture of socialist realism and
religious symbols, and the reconstruction after 10 years of the Tretyakov
Gallery, the country's finest repository of Russian art.

But this project is also a good symbol for the moral ambiguity and political
opportunism of the Russian state, led by former Communists who repent only some
of communism's crimes, like the destruction of this church, and take
responsibility for none.

It all reminds Russians that the collapse of the Soviet Union was like a
sudden shotgun blast that caused all the crows to fly up out of the tree, hover
for a time to look around, and then quietly resettle, though sometimes on
different branches.

But a new state needs new symbols, and what can be better than the
reconstruction of pre-Soviet ones, like this cathedral originally built to
commemorate Russia's deliverance from the hands of Napoleon?

The construction of the cathedral, the world's largest Orthodox church,
commissioned by Czar Alexander I, took 44 years and three more Romanov czars. It
was consecrated in 1883, after an official expenditure of 15,125,163 rubles and
89 kopeks.

But it stood for only 48 years. After Stalin destroyed it, originally
intending to use the spot to build a gigantic Palace of the Soviets -- higher
than the Empire State Building and topped with a statue of Lenin taller than the
Statue of Liberty -- the cathedral passed into myth.

But "like most myths brought into reality," the writer Igor
Yarkevich, a 33-year-old ironist, said of the current re-creation, "the
result will be awful."

Yarkevich sees the three big construction projects of the new state as, alas,
a troika: the war monument, Poklonnaya Hill, he said, "shows the West, 'We
beat you once and if possible, we'll do it again'; the Tretyakov shows that real
art exists only in Russia, and Christ the Savior shows that real belief exists
only in Russia."

These symbols are more valuable to a confused state than the more utilitarian
needs that communism preached about but failed so dismally to provide.

"So let there be no clothes, no hospitals and no apartments,"
Yarkevich said. "But we've got a huge church."

The single person most responsible for this megaproject is Yuri Luzhkov,
Moscow's feisty, aggressive mayor, who prides himself on his enlightened take on
the old Soviet model of the boss. He visits with an entourage that arrives in a
fleet of black Volga cars several times a month to nod over the plans and
encourage the workers, whom he has provided a bottomless supply of kvas, the
Russian beer-like drink derived from fermented bread.

Certainly the reconstruction would not be possible without the help of
Luzhkov's banker friends, many of whom have made a lot of money by handling the
city's accounts. Officially, says Igor Ptichnikov, executive director of the
fund-raising foundation for the cathedral, some 48 banks and companies are
providing 90 percent of the $250 million estimated cost.

The foundation put on a poorly attended rock concert in August and plans a
benefit concert by Mstislav Rostropovich in October at $100 a ticket. But
despite calls for patriotic donations from individuals, the state and city are
kicking in a lot of money from off-budget accounts, funds reliably said to be
accounted for as banker contributions.

Even the workers for the city-owned construction company have a shaded, jaded
view. Interviewed on site on a chilly Sunday morning, as big Krupp-made cranes
loomed and lurched and huge hods of bricks flew through the air, Dmitri Bessman,
a 30-year-old foreman, called the structure "a mountain of concrete,"
and said, "You could compare it to the Egyptian Pyramids."

Though he is grateful for the work and the overtime, Bessman said no Western
European workers would labor under such conditions, with such bad boots and
indifferent tools.

"You could build thousands of apartments for the same money," he
added. "Right now, living quarters and social services are more important
to us than churches."

When the original church was finally dynamited, Lazar Kaganovich, a loyal
Stalinist who built the Moscow metro, said over the rubble: "Mother Russia
is cast down. We have ripped away her skirts."

But fitful attempts to build Stalin's typically grandiose dream of the Palace
of Soviets, a cathedral for the new socialist age, foundered in the wet soil of
the riverside site and died in his preoccupation with the coming European war.

It was only in 1958, five years after Stalin's death, that Nikita S.
Khrushchev ordered that the swampy foundations -- by that time a place where
drunks and prostitutes congregated -- be turned into one of the world's largest,
heated outdoor swimming pools. With typical Soviet logic, the pool, which was
popular, was normally shut in the summertime for cleaning.

The speed of the work -- so reminiscent of Soviet command-style
super-projects -- is breathtaking. The church is already retaking a prominent
place on the Moscow skyline along the river, just west of the Kremlin. With the
huge cross that will stand on its tallest central dome, the structure will
stretch 335 feet high, more than 30 stories.

Yakov Krotov, a journalist with close ties to the Russian Orthodox
patriarchy, says that even in the church, the cathedral is sometimes viewed as
an act of mayoral hubris "like the Egyptian Pyramids," the same
analogy used by Bessman, the foreman.

But, Krotov, added: "As the Bible says, God acts through the heart of
the Pharaoh. And it's certainly better than an empty swimming pool."

Yarkevich, the writer, isn't sure. The first cathedral was criticized by the
period's intellectuals as ugly and grandiose, he said, and required the
destruction of a much-loved monastery. The same class of intellectuals later
decried the cathedral's destruction and its transformation into a swimming pool
for the workers' paradise.

"During communism," he said, "the Soviet intellectuals used to
say, 'There was a wonderful church here, and now there's a metro and swimming
pool.' And after some time, the intellectuals will say, 'You know there used to
be a wonderful swimming pool here, and now the new bosses have built a
church."'

Photostat
of Lenin's first order (1918) to kill kulaks

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